Tally's Blood

by Ann Marie Di Mambro

As well as being a highly popular play for National 5 English study, 'Tally's Blood' paints a wonderful picture of life in wartime Scotland, as experienced by the Italian immigrant community. Exploring the themes of racism, love and family loyalties, it does so with humour and warmth through the eyes of an Italian family with close blood ties. When World War Two breaks out, friendships outwith the family are sorely tested by the difficulties of wartime prejudice.

Genres: Plays, School, Scotland, Historical Fiction, Historical, Drama, Theatre

192 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Ann Marie Di Mambro is a Scottish playwright and television screenwriter of Italian extraction. Her theatre plays have been performed widely; they are also published individually and in collections and are studied in schools for the Scottish curriculum's Higher Drama and English.

Reviews

[Alison]

Teaching this to my National 5 class. Pleased that they’re enjoying it, although they were disappointed with the ending

[ella x]

3.75⭐

[Olivia]

Clearing out my old shelves and seeing this from high school gave me flashbacks

[Floriana de Roemer]

Miss paddock has traumatised me with her attempt to sound like an opera singer.

Lucia and Hughie are cute ig but they would've been better off as friends. Not every boy/girl friendship has to turn into romance

[Anna]

I threw this book across my room the second I came home from my exam. I'm so glad I never have to look at this ever again because it honestly triggers me so much. I will continue to dream of days when there is no set text in the exam.

[Cat]

The ending was terrible

[Rebecca Dunbar]

Loved this and can’t wait to teach it. As far as Scottish set texts go, this one reigns supreme.

[Maisie]

Read this play because I am going to teach it at Nat5 this year but I really enjoyed it. It has Scottish Romeo and Juliet vibes but there are lots of surprising moments in the play and interesting family dynamics. It’s interesting to read about different wartime perspectives and how it shaped Italian families in Scotland. I can see why it’s a popular text to be taught at this level and I’m excited to teach it.

[Sebastiano Saraceno]

I read this play as a part of my English Literature course at University regarding the Italian immigration to Scotland in the 20th century. The story is nice and entertaining overall, even though the Italians are a bit stereotyped.

[benita]

It made me really happy reading this in class every time, and it made me excited to go to class.
I need more books like this immediately.
it was funny, sad, shocking, happy, and I definitely recommend.
5-⭐️

[Jodi Robertson]

I read this in school. It's amazing. About an Italian family Set in Glasgow. Such a good book. It's a play by the way.

[rj]

I already studied this in class but I wanted to read it again on my own anyway n it was actually pretty good.

[Anna]

This play follows an Italian family in Scotland before, during and after the second world war.

I read it because I'm tutoring it and, to be honest, I have absolutely no opinions on it.

[Jasmine]

Was alright I guess, ending was a bit bad though

[Kirstin Quinn]

Read in class at work, enjoyed parts of it. Particularly my teacher counterpart reading the Italian.

[rachel wells]

Pretty decent, don’t really have anything against this book. I hate rosinella.

[katie]

proud of my guy hughie

[Niamh H]

Love massimo
Hate rossinella.

[Charlotte]

Read this to teach at school as part of Scottish curriculum. It's alright!

[dane]

had to read this for english class but it was fairly enjoyable considering i am not a big fan of plays

[Zosia]

Loved it!

[Rebecca]

School scottish set text